


An unexpected phonecall

by omnimoot



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-03-13 22:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3398003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omnimoot/pseuds/omnimoot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos is staying late at the lab when Cecil calls, and something seems a little bit... off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An unexpected phonecall

It was late afternoon and everyone else was leaving the lab when Carlos heard his phone ring. He looked up from his Librarian dissection in confusion. Nobody ever called at this time of day, had he forgotten to contact the Secret Police about the damaged recording device he’d found in the lab? Maybe he forgot that. Sure.

He pulled his hands out of the Librarian’s chest and abandoned his gloves on the table, turning his back which he knew he was never supposed to do, but his phone was behind him. He dug it out of his bag.

A little icon of a phone flashed happily away, and underneath the name, “Cecil”. With hearts around it. He was allowed to put his boyfriend’s name into the phone however he wanted to.

He answered the phone with a confused “Hello?”

Cecil’s voice came through strangely quiet, “Carlos. Are- are you busy?”

"Um, no," he lied as he eyed the Librarian, half-dissected and still twitching. "Is everything okay?"

Cecil ignored the question and posed his own quite quickly, “What are you wearing?”

Despite himself, Carlos snorted. “Um, a labcoat. I’m in the lab. Cecil, I thought you were getting ready for your broadcast.” He paused. “Are you trying to get me on the air again, Cecil?”

A long pause, “No. Yes. No. I don’t know. Yes.” Cecil laughed, and again it sounded odd, his voice wasn’t coming out smooth as usual.

"Are you sure you’re okay, Cecil?”

"Did you do any good science today?" he deflected again.

Carlos sighed, “Oh, sure. I was dissecting this Librarian when you called, you remember, the one that Tamika turned over a few days ago? It’s… dead, I think? I don’t know.” He watched it continue to twitch, strange dark tendrils of flesh gripping at the edges of the table. “Anyway, I keep cutting parts off it and they just dissolve. I can’t get anything under the microscope.”

"Oh, of course not," Cecil replied, and it almost sounded like he was stifling a cough after that. Carlos decided maybe he was coming down with something. He cleared his throat and added, "No one can take a Librarian apart."

"I wish I could just take the microscope over and look at it without cutting pieces off. I need to get a stereoscope, and I have to put in all the paperwork for it, and you remember the last time, the Secret Police were questioning me for days about my petri dishes," Carlos continued. "Anyway, I don’t know if it’s dead. I think it’s dead."

The Librarian had stopped twitching for a moment. He didn’t dare touch it again to see if he could make it resume.

"Neat," Cecil replied over the phone.

Carlos snorted. “Neat. But I thought you were getting ready for your broadcast. Wait, you’re not broadcasting right now, are you?”

He looked over at the radio sitting on the counter behind him. Carlos knew the radio schedule by heart, or well, the important part of it. When to turn it on for Cecil’s show. That wouldn’t be happening for another half hour, and he’d been ready to listen to it while he finished working with the Librarian, or waited for it to completely dissolve, or something.

Cecil replied quietly, “No. I’m—I’m not broadcasting—Carlos. I just wanted to talk to you, Carlos.”

"Well, here I am."

A quiet giggle came through, “Oh, Carlos. Perfect, perfect Carlos.”

"Nawww, you are. Perfect, I mean."

Cecil didn’t argue, for once, he didn’t start a competition over who was more perfect, because Carlos was always more perfect. This time, Cecil just replied, “You know I love you, Carlos.”

"Of course Cecil. I love you too. What’s this about?"

"You know I love you," he repeated.

"Yes? I love you too."

"Carlos."

"Cecil?"

The other line went dead. Carlos frowned at his phone; Cecil hung up on him. Well, probably the broadcast. He sighed and turned the radio on low, to wait for Cecil’s voice to come through on the other side again.

It wasn’t for a while until he realized that the broadcast was never going to start.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Person B knowing they’re undoubtedly about to die within the next few seconds, likely from the gaping wound they’re bleeding out from. Instead of calling for help, they phone Person A and carry on a casual conversation as if nothing is wrong, making sure to mention how much they love them before their time runs out.
> 
> ...so this was my first really short shot at writing Cecil and Carlos, and naturally, it was a sadfic. when the prompt strikes, the prompt strikes. anyway, let me know what you think? I think I'm still working on getting their voices to sound right, so I'll probably come up with better as I go along.


End file.
